Endangered
Giant golden-crowned flying fox
Acerodon jubatus
The giant golden-crowned flying fox, also known as the golden-capped fruit bat, is a megabat endemic to the Philippines.
Appearance
The giant golden-crowned flying fox gets its common name from its fur coloration. It has golden coloration that begins between its eyes and terminates to a narrow "V" shape at the nape of its neck, though sometimes extending to the upper shoulders. The sides of its face, brows, and throat are black, while the sides of its neck and upper back are maroon. This maroon fur transitions into brownish black, that then grades into reddish brown down the back.
It is among the heaviest of all bat species, with individuals weighing up to 1.40 kg (3.1 lb).
Its four lower incisors have a greater disparity in length between the inner and outer pair than do Pteropus. The only bat species known to weigh more than the giant golden-crowned flying fox are the Indian flying fox (Pteropus medius) and great flying fox (Pteropus neohibernicus), with a maximum weight of 1.6 kg (3.5 lb) and 1.45 kg (3.2 lb) respectively.
Range and habitat
The giant golden-crowned flying fox is endemic to the Philippines. It was the first endemic species of that country to be described, that it was in 1831. Surveys reported in 2005 and 2011 documented this species on the islands of Bohol, Boracay, Cebu, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros and Polillo. It was formerly found on the island of Panay, though this population has been extirpated.
The giant golden-crowned flying fox is threatened by deforestation and has completely disappeared from many islands in the Philippines, such as Panay and most of Cebu. Negros, an island part of its range, retains only 4% of its original forest coverage.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet
The overconsumption of fruits, paired with leaves may contribute to an adequate amount of protein in their diet. This species likely commutes long distances between its roost and foraging grounds.
It forages at night and sleeps during the day in tree roosts.
In crisis
The extinct subspecies (A. Jubatus lucifer) was formerly recognized as a full species, the Panay golden-crowned flying fox. Predators of the giant golden-crowned flying fox include raptors such as eagles, the reticulated python, and humans. Owing to deforestation and poaching for bushmeat, it is an endangered species.
Even in roosts that are more stringently protected from poaching, it is still affected by human disturbance via tourists who intentionally disturb them during the day. As of 2016, the giant golden-crowned flying fox is listed as an endangered species by the IUCN.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix I. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Giant golden-crowned flying fox is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Giant golden-crowned flying fox, Wikidata item Q775576. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
